The Grenada gazette. (Grenada, Miss.) 1885-18??, 1887-09-10

courage than child. and It was pitifu
to see him weep and hear his lanlenta
tons. begged of the Indians to let hin
go. stating that he was civilian VII,
had never injured them. and was 81
broken down that he could no. liv,
long. and but for the hot-hcaded youn:
men OF the tribe l should have got hin
OF. They urged that he was as>istiu,
to build the railroad which was driyin.
the game and the Indian out Of tn
country, and that the white men nevc
spared Il warrior because he was i'll
Such talk rs this settled it, and the en-
ginccr was led out, stripped Of hi
clothing. and tied securely to th'
stake. Had | refused to look on i
would have been taken as an act o
cowardice on my part. Realizing this
l stepped outside the lodge and stood
within ten feet OF the stake. Sewell
wcpt and begged while being made
fast. but when they stepped back he
suddenly grew calm and asked of me:
Taylor, what does this all mean?
What are they going to do with mc?"
They are going to torture you, Mr..
Scwell."
Are you a prisoner. too?"
"Ycs, and they will torture me after
finishing YOU"
my God! but this is awful. l have
eight hundred dollars at the camp.
Won't they take that and release u.s."
l replied that if we We're worth u
million dollars apiece we could not
purchase our liberty under the circum.
stances, and advised him to call up all
his courage and seek to die like man.
Any sign of weakness on his part would.
excite contempt and increased torture.
and the better way was to defy them
to do their worst. l believe he tried
his best to brace up, but his nerves
were dreadfully shattered, and after
three or four minutes he began crying
again. This had just the effect l pre-
dictcd. Half Il hundred boys were
sent off to cut switches, and when they
returned they were told to go ahead
and apply them to the engineer. The
idea was to whip some courage into
him, but it was Il fiat failure. Almost
at the first blow the man cried out like
!, woman, and, his feet not having yet
been tied. lie danced about like a pup
pet. | called out to him to kick his
but he paid no heed to my
Ioicc, and after time stood stock still
md let the boys whip him until blood
vas drawn in score of places. All
his time he cried like boy four or
i've years old. and heard some of the
Id warriors say that he was the most
owardly white man they had ever
net. He may have lacked courage,
nut l always believed his conduct to
AVE been the result of his shattered
mental and physical condition.
After the boys had switched him for
en- minutes they were called off. and
o,,plc of warriors advanced with their
nuzzlc-loading rifles and began to fire
hargcs of powder into the poor fell
ow's flesh. Does it hurt9 Well, sir,
lell can't be any worse. I've had n
[ozen charges fired into me, and never !
cit any pain to equal it. I'll take two
ullcts in preference to one charge of |
'owder every time. The first charge |
ct him to dancing and screaming, and
t the third or fourth he kicked one of |
he warriors over, and became so say.
&C that they had to fully bind him to
he stukc. They fired tliirly-fuur
harges in all, and by the time they |
nd finished you could not have told !
hat Scwell was Il white man. His ag-
ny was something awful, and he
'rithcd about with such strength that
nc stake had twice to be driven deeper.
lis shrieks and screams, rs l after
ard knew, We're heard a distance of
lore than two miles, and yet this was
My the beginning Of what they had in
tore for him.
The next move was TO apply the
llrning sticks. Some green sticks had
cen put upon the fire on purpose, and
,rcc or four warriors applied the burn
lg ends to various portions of the en-
inecr's body. The pain fairly drove
i'm crazy. and in short time he
tinted. Water was brought from the
.rcam and dashed over him, and dur
g this interval many warriors crowded
round me to see how ! was bearing
p.
dogs! Do You think you can make
he Long Death cry like that?' !
routed at them. Here, pull up my
'ouscrs and see where the cowardly
louX shot powder into my legs. Pull
Fl my boots and find where the Chey.
me, applied the fire sticks. Did l
ccp like II woman9 Go ask them.
nd when you ask that, inquire who
HE'D the Black Eagle. Red Horse, Big
fountain, Great Buffalo and Black
Gather. They will tell You, The Long
'eath.
But for the presence of four or five
-. 4 |